Magic
The term Magic has a two related meanings. First, it refers to a supernatural force or energy described as "the essence of life and creation." Second it refers to the practice of harnessing this force to produce changes in reality. Most supernatural beings are capable of performing magic, as are some mortals, who are refered to as practioners/ Magic as energy According to Harry Dresden, magic is life's essence. It is generated by living things, and may be thought of as akin to the concepts of Odic force and prana. However, the human heart and soul is also powerful source of magical energy. There's more magic in a baby's first giggle than any fire that a wizard can call up. Emotions are a kind of channel for magic, a path to carry energy to a practioner.Storm Front, ch. 2 Practioners can draw on their own emotions for power. Black magic comes from negative emotions like lust, fear and anger, which are easy to harness and to make grow. Harry's magic was harder because it comes from a deeper truer and purer source—harder to tap, harder to keep but more elegant and more powerful. Fool Moon, ch. 33 Magic as practice Harry Dresden describes casting a spell as a three-step process. The first step is to gather energy. The second is to shape that energy with one's thoughts and feelings for achieving one's goal. The final step is to release the energy in the intended direction. Harry likens this to using a firearm: first one must load ammunition (gather energy), aim the weapon (shape the energy with intent), and pull the trigger (release the energy). During Blood Rites, Harry remarks it can be very difficult for a single individual to handle all these tasks when performing a large spell, so that three practitioners will work in concert to divide the effort.Blood Rites, ch. 27 Belief "You can't weave together a spell that you don't believe in." ~ Harry Dresden.Fool Moon, ch. 10 In order to successfully cast a spell, a practioner must have confidence that he will succeed in casting the spell. A practioner who believes himself incapable of achieving some effect with magic makes himself incapable of doing so, simply by holding that belief. A practioner must also believe that casting the spell he intends to cast is a proper thing to do. A practioner with a deeply-held belief that violence is wrong would almost certainly fail in attempts to do violence with magic. They can't make it happen if it isn't part of them, inside.Storm Front, ch. 2 Side-effects The practice of magic by mortals result in strange side-effects. During the time at which the novels take place, this side-effect is an interference with the operation of electrical or electronic devices. The frequency and severity of this interference increases with the complexity of the device as well as with the amount of ambient magic.Storm Front, ch. 1 Although the term "interference" suggests that the effect is temporary, exposure to magic can and often does produce permanent damage to affected devices. Waldo Butters describes the phenomenon as an intensification of Murphy's Law, increasing the chance that something which might go wrong with a device will actually occur. Ebenezar McCoy believes that the reason the magic of human wizards disrupts modern mechanics and technology—though the magic of Faeries does not—is that human beings are inherently conflicted. Magic responds to emotions and thoughts, and people's thoughts and emotions are always conflicting. This means that there is a turbulence around those with magical talent and its the turbulence, not the magic itself, that disrupts technology.Cold Days, ch. 19 Because the metaphysical principles governing the operation of magic are continuously changing (albeit very slowly), the side effects of mortal magic also change. For example, during the eighteenth century, exposure to magic caused dairy products to spoil. Props Magic doesn't require props to function. Magic may not need props but people need them. Each prop has both a symbolic and practical reason for being part of a spell. Simple activities like lighting candles can be done in the mind. However, complicated spells have too many parts to keep track of: flows of energy, manipulating them and so on. Using props serve as a device to hold the meaning, the image that the user attaches to it.Changes, ch. 29 Anchoring To make spells long-lasting, they need to be anchored. *OBJECTS: Magic can be anchored to specific objects, usually expensive objects but not always, like Harry's blasting rod. *PERSON: There are times when magic can be anchored to a person. It must be a blood relation. Example: Margaret LeFay, Harry's mom, could have anchored her Death curse to Harry so that as long as he was alive, the spell was still viable.Blood Rites, ch. 27 Other details *Left side is the side that takes in energy.Summer Knight, ch. 19 *The right side projects energy.White Night, ch. 41 *The proper hand to carry a staff in is the left hand.Grave Peril, ch. 1 *Magic is time-consuming with Circles, gathering energies, and aligning forces. Summer Knight, ch. 19 The Seven Laws of Magic # Thou shalt not kill by use of magic. # Thou shalt not transform others. # Thou shalt not invade the mind of another. # Thou shalt not enthrall another. # Thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life. # Thou shalt not swim against the currents of Time. # Thou shalt not seek knowledge beyond the Outer Gates. Practitioners Practitioner is a generic term for an individual who can use magic. The word signifies only the presence of magical talent; it has no connotations regarding the individual's power or skill. There are a number of other terms, however, which do have such connotations. A wizard is a practitioner who is a member of the White Council. They have a full spectrum of magical abilities known to mortals. The Council only grants membership to the strongest of practitioners; in terms of raw magical strength, Council wizards rank in the top two percent. And yet, the power of even the strongest wizards is insignificant in comparison to a supernatural heavyweight like a Faerie Queen. Only a handfull throughout history, such as The Original Merlin have been an exception to this rule. A sorcerer is a practitioner with a wide (or full) spectrum of magical abilities and a good deal of power, who either does not meet the criteria for Council membership, or does but is not a member. Many of those in the latter category have the necessary power and talent to be a wizard, but are often self-taught, lacking the resources and knowledge base of the White Council. The term is sometimes used as a perjorative by White Council members, with the connotation of a dangerous or destructive individual. A minor talent is a practitioner with a small degree of magical aptitude. A warlock is a practitioner who has violated one of the laws of magic. Practitioners with a high degree of magical strength have two unusual physical characteristics. The first is great longevity: the lifespan of a White Council wizard is measured in centuries. The second is an extraordinary ability to recover from injury. Wizards don't heal faster than ordinary people, but they heal better. A practitioner's body can recover from injuries that an ordinary mortal's body never could. Furthermore, the recovery is eventually so complete that there sometimes is no evidence that the injury ever occurred. Wizards get scars, but even serious scars are eventually repaired.Blood Rites, ch. 4 Variation in abilities In much the same way that people have varying talents for art, science, or music, practitioners have varying aptitudes for different aspects of magic. What is easy for one may be difficult for another. Harry Dresden, for instance, is very adept at thaumaturgy (particularly at finding things), but less so at evocation. His apprentice Molly Carpenter, on the other hand, has a knack for veils and psychomancy. Tools of magic *Circle: The circle is one of the basic tools of magic. An empowered circle creates a barrier that magical forces and beings of the Nevernever cannot cross. A practitioner will place a circle around an area where a spell is being performed in order to prevent magical "background noise" from interfering with the spell. Because supernatural beings cannot cross them, empowered circles can be used to cotain such beings, as well as to keep them out of an area. Storm Front, ch. 6 Turn Coat, ch. 19 *Name: A being's Name can be used to create a thaumaturgical link to that being. When using a Name in a spell, a practioner must pronounce it in exactly the same way in which the Name's owner does. In order for a Name to be magically useful, the correct pronunciation must ultimately have been learned from the Name's owner.Storm Front, ch. 6 *Physical Samples: When a pice of an object is removed from the main mass of that object, the piece retains a thaumaturgic link to it. A bit of hair, nail clippings, or fresh blood can be used to aim a thaumaturgic spell at the person it was taken from. The principle works with inanimate objects as well, such as bits of clay taken from the same large mass. *Mirrors: many things can use mirrors as windows and doors. Harry doesn't keep any mirrors in his home.Storm Front, ch. 11 *Pentagram: A magical symbol, a five pointed star drawn as a single line, forming a pentagon in the center. Small Favor, ch. 04 *Pentacle: A pentacle is another magical symbol, essentially a pentagram enclosed within a circle. Harry Dresden says it represents the five elemental forces of Air, Earth, Water, Fire, and Spirit bound and contained by human will.Small Favor, ch. 04 *Focus: A focus is a magically prepared object used to aid a practioner in performing a spell. *Homunculus: A homonculus is an object used as a temporary vessel for a spirit incapable of manifesting a physical form of its own. Some practitioners use fresh corpses, but this isn't required; Harry Dresden used a Cabbage Patch doll as a vessel for for Ulsharavas.Death Masks, ch. 8 *Cats: are Magic-friendly, they can move back and forth across magic boundaries, like circles, without disturbing them.Cold Days, ch. 47 Cats can also see ghosts and spirits.Ghost Story, ch. 10 Using blood *Blood has a kind of power; a magic user can use blood to track the person who spilled it.Fool Moon, ch. 4 *Once blood dries, it's harder to use.Fool Moon, ch. 4 *Using blood is tricky, the user has to keep it from drying out and keep it undiluted.Cold Days, ch. 27 *The amount of blood needed depends on: the efficiency and skill level of the magic user—and—how much energy is required: the more energy being sent, the more blood is needed. If for a simple tracking spell, not much is needed, if for making a targets heart explode, a lot is needed. Cold Days, ch. 27 Types of magic There are two broad types of magic in The Dresden Files: thaumaturgy and evocation. Thaumaturgy operates by creating magical links between objects. It operates over greater distances and with more precision, but is more time consuming and requires a conduit to the target-- usually a physical sample.Storm Front, ch. 2''Storm Front, ch. 11 Evocation is loud, flashy, instantanious, and often destructive. It works on its target directly without the need for a link, and can be performed quickly, but has limited range(line of sight) an is generally more difficult to wield with precision.Storm Front, ch. 2 There are a number of terms for more specialized forms of magic. *'Divination''' is magic which is employed to gain information, especially information about the future. *'Summoning' magic brings a spiritual being from the Nevernever to the mortal world. *'Binding' magic is used to enthrall (enslave) a summoned being. *'Charm' is a kind of short-term magic.Summer Knight, ch. 19 *'Enchantment' magic is used in the construction of magical instruments, such as foci. Forms of magic can also be named according to what the spell affects, rather than what it does. These names are typically constructed from a Greek or Latin root and the suffix ''-mancy, from a Greek word meaning ''divination, but which in English has taken on the meaning area of magic relating to. ''Thus "pyschomancy", derived from Greek ''psyche (mind) plus ''-mancy'' is "area of magic relating to the mind," specifically mind-control. Elemental Magic Fire Magic *Fire Magic is what Harry uses most often: fuego, and variations or combinations. Earth Magic *In the short story IT’S MY BIRTHDAY, TOO Harry uses the spell "Gravitus" to concentrate, for just a fraction of second, the gravity of a fifty yards circle into a eighteen inches circle, smashing a Black Court Vampire. Harry explains that he is not good with earth-magic and so he needed twenty seconds to cast the spell. *Ebenezar insisted that Harry learn at least one spell of Earth Magic.Changes, ch. 12 *Harry opened a hole in Lea's garden in the Nevernever to bury Bob, the Swords and other paraphenalia using Dispertius to open the hole and Resarcius to close it.Changes, ch. 12 *Harry used an anti-gravity spell to smash and kill hundreds of Red Court soldiers—specifically Esclavos de Sangre: "Blood Slaves".Changes, ch. 42 Air / Wind Magic Harry uses Wind Magic second after Fire Magic with: "Ventas Servitas" Grave Peril, ch. 8 *Harry swore by it and fire to Bianca St. Claire that he had no intent to harm her to stop her attacking him.Storm Front, ch. 9 *Harry called up wind to blow on Kyle and Kelly Hamilton.Grave Peril, ch. 8 Water Magic *Water, especially running water, grounds out most magic.Grave Peril, ch. 21 Spirit Magic Curses Curses are spells intended to do harm. Details *Curses need some means of directing the magic at a target. Body parts like hair, nail-clippings, fresh blood worked best.Blood Rites, ch. 9 *Really strong curses require three people to cast the spell: one to gather the energy, one to shape it, one to aim it.Blood Rites, ch. 27 *To make a curse long-lasting, it needs to be anchored to an object or a blood relation.Blood Rites, ch. 27 Types *Malocchio *Entropy curse *Death curse In the series ''Storm Front'' In Storm Front, Harry is angry and nauseated that someone would use a thing of beauty like magic and use it to hurt, kill and destroy when magic taps into the energies of creation.Storm Front, ch. 2 ''Blood Rites'' In Blood Rites: Harry was hired by Arturo Genosa to stop Strega from killing with a Malocchio—an Entropy curse.Blood Rites, ch. 3 Murphy asked Harry why he can't do the sunshine magic thing like he did on Bianca St. Claire a few years back.Storm Front, ch. 9 Harry said that he tried it again after The War and found out that he needed to be genuinely happy to be able to fold sunshine into a hankie or it does not work.Blood Rites, ch. 23 ''Turn Coat'' In Turn Coat, Anastasia Luccio told Harry how his mother, Margaret LeFay, loved pointing out the ares of "grey" magic, as she called it and questioned their legitimacy. As a consequence, the Senior Council tasked the Wardens with keeping an eye on her.Turn Coat, ch. 28 ''Changes'' In Changes, Harry performed magic in his mind without the use of any props while immobilized after having broken his back and being desperate to rescue his daughter. He first summoned Uriel who cannot help him.Changes, ch. 29 Harry then summoned Mab.Changes, ch. 30 ''Ghost Story'' In Ghost Story, Harry tries to figure out how to use magic being a ghost. He had to access the energy, empower the spell with memories. "Working magic as a ghost was all about doing it au natural." With a tracking spell to find Molly, at first he kept finding himself at some place they were at long ago. When he used a current memory and filled it with details, it worked.Ghost Story, ch. 21 Word of Butcher According to Jim Butcher, "Magic wasn't always screwing up post WW2 tech. Before WW2 magic had other effects. It sorta changes slowly over time, and about every 3 centuries it rolls over into something else. At one time, instead of magic making machines flip out it made cream go bad. Before that magic made weird moles on your skin and fire would burn slightly different colors when you were around it."[[Jim Butcher] Dragon*con Q&A] References See also *Ritual (magic) *Circle of Power *Focus (magic) *Objects of faith *Pentacle *Pentagram *Harry Dresden's spells *Molly Carpenter's spells *Harry Dresden's Lab *Potions *Wizards *Practitioners *Laws of Magic *Black magic *Category: Magic *Magical objects - Dresden Files Category *Practitioners - Dresden Files Category *Wizards - Dresden Files Category *Stone Table *Medea’s Bodkin *The Athame External links General: *Magic (paranormal) - Wikipedia *Black, White, and Gray Magic - Spells and Charms Types: *Whatevermancy - Television Tropes & Idioms - includes an index of terms for types of magic *Many Types of Magic - Spells and Charms *Ritual Magic - Spells and Charms *Main/Functional Magic - Television Tropes & Idioms *Varieties of Magic *Thaumaturgy - Wikipedia *Evocation - Wikipedia *Different Types of Magic *7 types of magic - Forum Library *The Eight Kinds Of Magic *Of Wizards, Sorcerers and other Magic Users *Main/Magic and Powers - Television Tropes & Idioms Tools of Magic: *Casting a Circle - Wicca and Witchcraft *Cast a Circle *Tools of the Craft *Sigil (magic) - Wikipedia *Runes - Wikipedia *The Tools of Magic - Introduction Spells: *Witchcraft Spells - White Magic, Magic Spells and Wicca *A Guide to Successful Spell-Working - Spells and Charms Category:Magic Category:Storm Front Category:Blood Rites Category:Turn Coat Category:Changes Category:Ghost Story